Rewrite (Raven x Apple)

~Chapter Forty~

Raven took a deep breath, her sweating palms tightly grasping the bouquet of roses.

"Do you wanna go out with me?"

Raven's face burned red as she said that line for the millionth time. Cerise stared at her with an unamused look, sitting cross-legged on Raven's bed.

"Okay, that wasn't it. Say it again."

Raven loudly groaned.

"We've been doing this for thirty minutes! What do you want me to do differently?!"

Cerise held her hand out, counting off on her fingers.

"Your face flushes every time, your nervousness is super obvious, and a simple 'do you wanna go out with me' is not gonna do it for Apple. Tell her how you feel."

"I can't! You can't just go up to the leader of the Royals and say, 'Hey, I have this massive crush on you even though we're kinda forbidden to love each other and are destined to be enemies. Do you wanna go out?'"

Raven paced back and forth, pearls of sweat growing on her face.

"Is that Raven Queen? Caring about destiny?" Cerise raised a smug eyebrow. She knew she was only fanning the flames by teasing Raven, but it was so entertaining.

"I don't, Apple does. A lot. And she's 100% gonna say no."

"But you deserve to be open about your feelings, Raven. You can't keep it bottled up forever. And if you do...it'll be too late."

"Too late?"

"Too late. She's gonna move on if you don't act fast."

Raven sighed and bit her fingernail, looking away. Cerise was right. She couldn't keep this mask on forever. Apple deserved to know, and Raven deserved to be free to tell her.

"Alright...alright. I'm gonna tell her. Right now."

"Right now?"

"Right now. It's lunchtime. She'll probably be with Ashlyn and Briar again."

Cerise got off Raven's bed, her feet landing on the carpeted floor.

"Alright. I'm gonna go. It's pizza day in the castleteria."

Raven smiled at her and nodded.

"Okay. I'll only be a second."

"A'right. Cya down there."

Cerise smiled at Raven, before exiting the dorm room. The door closed with a click, and the room soon being filled with silence. Raven looked out her window. The sun was warmly shining onto the kingdom and filling the room with a warm light.

"Why is this so hard for me?"

"..."

"Should I just give it up? Should I let her go?"

She continued to look out the window, and just as she was about to give it up for good, a raven flew by and landed on the tree outside. Raven smiled at the bird. It hopped around on a branch for a couple of moments, until a little white dove landed right next to it.

Raven watched intently at the birds. They hopped around on the branch, the dove coo-ing a few times and the raven screeched back at it. They continued like this until the dove flew away quickly. Raven watched the dove fly off and land in a nest a couple of trees away.

The raven had been left alone.

The birds. So different. Different colors, feathers, sounds, and cries they made, but from what Raven saw, they got along. Until the dove left. It left for a nest. Most likely, with another bird.

"Too late..."

Raven spoke to herself quietly, her eyes sparking in the sunshine.

In an instant, she tightly gripped the roses and bolted out of her dorm room. She tripped on her own feet after about five steps in the hallway, but immediately got back up and ran down the hallway, the words "too late" replaying in her head.

With heavy footsteps, she ran into the castleteria, out of breath. Her eyes landed on Apple instantly.

Apple didn't meet Raven's eyes yet, but she laughed a soft laugh with Briar and Ashlyn as soon as Raven saw her. Her lips curled into a smile and her blue eyes shut as she raised a thin hand to cover her mouth slightly.

She was beautiful.

She was perfect.

With no self-control left, Raven shouted, her face flushing red.

"Apple!"

It went silent. Everyone turned to look at Raven after her yell. Raven hated it. She hated every second of it. It made her mind flash back to the stares the Royals gave her at Legacy Day.

'Too late' she thought.

Apple froze and stared at Raven, an understandably confused look on her face. Her eyes flashed between Raven and the roses.

Raven marched up to Apple until she was a few feet away from her.

"I don't really know how to tell you this, but I think I kind of really really like you and I can't control it and it's killing me and I need to ask this so my stupid brain will shut up about it so goddamnitAppledoyouwannagooutwithme?"

Raven spoke quickly as she thrusted the roses towards Apple, her face feeling like it would be burned from how much she was blushing. The students stared at Raven in complete shock, staying silent, except for a loud "YEAH" coming from under a red hood a few tables away.

Everyone, even Apple herself, expected her to say no. Until a gentle, pale, pair of hands reached out and took the roses. Raven stared at Apple with wide eyes as a blush grew on Apple's pale skin as she smiled at Raven.

"I would love to."

Word count: 916